War/Military Classics

The good ol' days' equivalent of today's Avengers in a sense, this war film is a powerhouse of heavyweight actors from a different era being what superheroes of WWII were. For a dated classic it's still a beautifully made film and holds its own against today's fare!

One of my favourite oldies for the excellent use of the British cast and also not making the British look like second rate heroes to the Americans, the war effort in Holland turns dangerously against the allies' favour

Bridge on the River Kwai's overall success led to half a century of films and television movies and miniseries telling much the same story but there is still only one bridge and here it is. A truly close to the bone tale of British POW's forced into Japanese slavery during the war to defeat their own forces' attempts to overcome the East!

A rare classic from when the Aussies started to make some really good films and the world war stories started to dry up. As the war raged on in the rest of the world, the Australians faced daily massacre in the trenches facing the Turks around Egypt. This is a tale of two talented athletes drawn into the conflict where their talent for running could either be the death of them or the lifeline of thousands of weary soldiers

A childhood favourite; Lee Marvin is the grizzled old Sergeant who is serving his second world war with the Big Red One, the First Infantry. His squad, also consisting of a young and talented Mark Hamill and Robert Carradine, make their way across Europe punching through enemy lines on the beaches of Vichy France, Italy and across Africa until finally they break into Germany and discover one of the first concentration camps. A brave tale, often funny, beautifully shot, compelling and full of enough action to keep any boy at heart happy

Michael Caine is the German spy sent to assassinate Churchill. One of his own finest before the great Hollywood black hole of B-Movies that almost ended his career

One of the most recalled war films of all time and classed as one of the greatest. No need to ask why, just go see it if you haven't yet

The original war film that made a hero of Lee Marvin's grizzled antihero type. Aging Colonel Reissman is given the dirtiest job of all during the war; to tame and train American war criminals to get behind enemy lines on a suicide mission. Disrespected and doubted by his peers, his team pull together finally to prove that they might just be the baddest squad of soldiers there ever were, even if they're all goofballs and psychopaths. One of the few films that manages to be hilarious and remain deadly serious, also featuring one of the finest casts ever. Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, John Cassavettes, Telly Savalas, Donald Sutherland, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown and Clint Walker are included.

The Korean war seen from the point of military surgeons who try to remain sane by being as crazy as possible. Involves playing drunken golf on minefields and lots of pranks. Donald Sutherland, Elliot Gould and Robert Duvall are brilliant

The original Three Kings and still the best. An action comedy that doesn't trivialise the effects of war unless it involves killing Germans wholesale. Kelly's Heroes is about Clint Eastwood's crazy and disgraced platoon leader catching wind that the Germans are hiding a huge stash of gold behind enemy lines and takes an unauthorised mission behind enemy lines to get it. Telly Savalas gets to be a hero, as again does Donald Sutherland, with the inclusion of Don Rickles.

Michael Caine and his British squad are stuck behind enemy lines on a covert mission in the Pacific East. Hunted down by the Japanese, either they have to risk their lives to escape back to base or be killed playing it safe

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Malcolm McDowall's turn to be the hero, I enjoyed this a lot even though it was quite late after all the original arial combat films such as Battle of Britain and Dam Busters. It's nice also though because it's a lot less dated and feels more authentic

One of the boys adventures sees the titan team up of Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton and their covert team infiltrating the Eagle's Nest in the Bavarian Alps to snatch a scientist from the Nazi's. Fir it's time, this is as white knuckle a ride as it gets and believe me when I say I'm not debunking it. This is a classic and I own it for that reason!

Gregory Peck *beep* German *beep* up!

Not the type of film you'd have expected our Harry Ford to have jumped into after Star Wars, especially since he was a carpenter up until that time but Robert Shaw takes ford and also Carl Weathers on their mission to blow up a damn to screw the Germans over for the allies. Not great but enjoyable!

Another Australian gem, this time starring a fresh faced Sam Neill along with Mel Gibson. A suicide special forces mission by the Aussies to a Pacific island quickly goes sour but an Asian village vows to stand by the Australians and help them complete their mission against all odds

The daddy of Vietnam films, an army Captain is sent into most dangerous Cambodia to assassinate a brilliant Colonel gone mad but with the madness of the war in full swing, will he even get there with his mind and soul in one piece?

One of the few films to seriously tackle the issue of MIA US soldiers in Vietnam over ten years after the end of the war, Colonel Rhodes, a retired soldier is out to find his son since the government refuses to get involved. For this, he enlists the battle scarred and guilt ridden team mates that were forced to leave Jason behind. But tracked by the CIA, they have no choice but to head for Cambodia illegally and without the weapons they will need!

Another powerhouse Vietnam movie and the one I grew up with. A now all star cast including Charlie Sheen, Willem Dafoe, Tom Berenger, Johnny Depp, Forest Whittaker, Keith David and Kevin Dillon sees a platoon of soldiers battling the guerrilla tactics of their most vicious enemies and inner conflict between their own as the effects of the war turns young men into monsters. Oliver Stone's possible best.

John Irvin's answer to Platoon sees the mass war effort forcing young men up a hill already won from the *beep* countless times and the veterans who won it questioning why their best friends are dying for what they had already accomplished for the US Army

Kubrick's break from the norm, he takes a documentary style of direction to a particularly grim side of the Vietnam war... in the bombed out cities where snipers wait at every turn and the troops actively hate each other so that their friends' inevitable deaths won't affect them. As a result the all out discrimination and contempt is often hilarious but Kubrick nails how the war trivialised troops' care for human life and values

A decent TV movie sees Clint Eastwood's vinegar pissing Gunnery Sergeant put in charge of the worst bunch of flunk-outs the Rangers have ever seen just in time for the Falklands War. It tries to recreate the Dirty Dozen feel somewhat and falls short but it's still fun to watch just for Eastwood's refusal to ever fail at anything but being pleasant.